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Technically, the latest game out of Harmonix and MTV Games shouldn't be called Rock Band 2. The more appropriate title would be Rock Band v2.0, as it's more like a massive content patch than a true sequel. But in this case, that's fine with us: with a whopping 84 songs on-disc, online and solo support for a revamped World Tour, a new "Battle of the Bands" mode and full compatibility with hundreds of existing downloadable tunes, it's a no-brainer for any Rock Band fanatic.

The Comeback Tour

The gameplay, of course, hasn't changed. Using special controllers, Rock Band 2 lets you play one of four instruments – guitar, drums, vocals and bass – by pushing buttons (or singing or hitting drum pads) in time with notes scrolling down the screen. You can play by yourself, or in any combination of up to four players. By now, the formula has become so commonplace that it barely deserves the explanation, but for people new to the series (or who've been intimidated by the games in the past), Harmonix has added a "No Fail" mode that's perfect for parties – just rock out and you don't have to worry about how well you're doing.

At the heart of Rock Band 2 are three gameplay modes: the "World Tour," "Battle of the Bands" and "Tour Challenges." The tweaks to World Tour -- the lone mode returning from Rock Band -- are the biggest news: full support for online play, as well as the ability to play through the full tour as a solo act. You pick a home city, get some starter gigs and quickly unlock other cities and bigger venues, and even though there's a core path leading you to the "Rolling Stone Rock Immortals Challenge" in Shanghai, you're given a huge amount of freedom to define how you get there. And even then, you may not even have completed 20% of the World Tour events, so you can continue in a quest to amass fans on the leaderboards after you've achieved Immortal status. (Good luck with The Endless Setlist 2, a marathon event in which you'll play all 84 on-disc songs in one session).

The most highly touted new feature is the Battle of the Bands, and it's a most welcome one. On a daily basis -- and Harmonix has already been populating these pre-release -- you'll find new events for you and your band to participate in. For instance, you might be competing for highest score on a single song, or the longest streak, or the most total stars for a specific setlist. Special rules can be invoked, like requiring a drummer or that everyone play on Expert, or turning on "No Fail" mode so everyone can compete. The coolest aspect of the Battles is that the score directly ahead of yours is shown live while you're playing, with a little meter showing your relative progress against theirs. In effect, these battles will give players a fresh competition to take part in every day, and so far, it's been a fantastic addition to the game.

The other new feature is the Tour Challenges, which are sort of like Battle of the Bands events that you complete solo. Here, you'll find things like a beginner set of drum songs, or a Grunge set, or an '80s set. These challenges are sometimes dynamic: if you add DLC to your library, it automatically gets added to some challenges (like a Rock-Pop list or a '70s set). And if you miss the old linear progression, there's a set of Marathon challenges that unlock all 84 songs in sequence, for you to play on any instrument(s) or difficulty. The Tour Challenges aren't quite as exciting as the World Tour and Battle of the Bands, but they're a nice twist on the old linear setlist.

There are a few small tweaks to score tracking in Rock Band 2, some which are welcome, others which are not. In Rock Band, your career score would only reflect songs played in the linear campaign, ignoring World Tour or Quickplay. Now, high scores are captured from a variety of modes (including World Tour) and displayed in the Quickplay screen as well as the Leaderboards. The disappointment is that there's nowhere to view the star ratings associated with your high scores. Star ratings generally put each score in context and help players decide which songs they're doing the best (or worst) on, and they're sorely missed; we'd love to see a patch add a little orange-button option to toggle scores and star ratings at the main scoreboard.